Everybody loves Christmas, but have you ever thought about what are the most popular Christmas songs of all time? Every year we have a heady mix of new songs showing up on the charts during the last months of the year.
Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. Music was an early feature of the Christmas season and its celebrations. The word Carol actually means dance or a song of praise and joy! Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons. Everybody knows the song “Everything I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey. Mariah’s angelic voice works perfectly with the upbeat, catchy tune to make this song a Christmas staple. A famous singer who has passed away at the end of last year, George Michael, sang a beautiful song that everyone reminds of Christmas, “Last Christmas”. With George Michael’s dreamy vocals added in, this makes for a great Christmas concoction for the broken hearts. In the Middle Ages, the English combined circle dances with singing and called them carols. Later, the word carol came to mean a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. the 20th century has presented Christmas in several ways. The tradition of singing Christmas carols in return for alms or charity began in England in the seventeenth century after the Restoration. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, composed in 1734, tells the entire Christmas story from the Birth right through the arrival and adoration of the Magi. More recently popular Christmas songs tend to be specifically about Christmas, or have a wintertime theme. Radio broadcasting of Christmas music has been around for several decades in the United States and elsewhere. The 24/7 all-Christmas format has been generally successful due in large part to Christmas creep. In the United States, many radio stations begin airing an all-Christmas format by Thanksgiving weekend.
If you want to see what are the most popular Christmas songs of all time, check Insider Monkey’s list of 10 Most Popular Christmas Songs of All Time and find out more about Christmas and music.
